Confitarma, Assembly of the Italian Confederation for Ship Owners

The private session of the Assembly of the Italian Confederation of Ship Owners was held last Tuesday in Rome, to approve the Balance sheet and the Annual Report on the year 2015.
The President Emanuele Grimaldi outlined the activities held by the Confederation in 2015, with the aid of several Presidents of the Confederal Commissions. Grimaldi also announced the will to create a specific Working Group on the environment, which is to be considered a crucial factor in the shipping industry: the group, guided by Lorenzo Matacena, will address the matter from both the technical and the political point of view. The President also wishes to create a dedicated maritime association for the preservation of the sea as a resource.
Emanuele Grimaldi, underlined that the Italian flagged fleet at the end of 2015 is at 16,5 million GT, 3% less compared to the end of 2014, even though expectations from the first months of 2016 are showing a positive trend.
“It is clear that the Italian shipping, just like the global one, is suffering for a global economical phase which is particular – said Grimaldi – because of a deep crisis. However, there are sectors such as the cruising and ferry boats ones which are always showing a growing trend.”
Concerning the European Law now being analysed by the Chamber of the Deputees, a law proposing modifications to the normative field of the International Register to such measures which have been preserving the competitiveness of the Italian fleet, Grimaldi said that there are “non understandable initiatives which, in the name of a formal defense of the occupations of Italian maritime workers, may cause the opposite result, with the loss of thousands of jobs, following the change of flag of several Italian vessels. (…) I highlight that, without a national fleet there wouldn’t be a maritime cluster able to create profits and to contribute to the economy of the Country.”
He concluded: “To be competitive on the international market we need to operate at the same conditions of the competitors. And without competitiveness there is no occupation. Since 1998 Italy has understood the importance of a national fleet and has adopted regulations to invert the flagging out towards foreign flags and has relaunched the development of our mercantile marine”.
The public session of the Assembly will be held in Rome on October 24^th, 2016, with the presence of Graziano Delrio, Mininster of the Infrastructures and Transports, and Vincenzo Boccia, President of Confindustria.